Cyrano

About this board game

Cyrano is a 2010 board game for 4–9 players, with each game lasting about 45 minutes. Inspired by the play Cyrano de Bergerac, it challenges players to write poetry on behalf of another man wooing a woman.

Each round begins when a player reveals a theme card and two rhyme cards. Using those prompts, every player composes a quatrain: four lines in total, with two lines ending in one rhyme and the other two ending in the second rhyme. Homonyms are acceptable.

• Write a four-line poem around the revealed theme.
• Use both assigned rhymes, with two lines for each.
• Read the poems aloud and score points for unique ending words.
• Secretly vote for the poem you appreciated most.

The poetry score works in a Boggle-style way: each unique ending word is worth one point. These points are recorded by blacking out squares on a ladder representing the lover’s climb toward his object of affection.

Players also vote secretly for the poem they most appreciate, whether because of its beauty, its adherence to the theme, or another artistic quality. Votes are revealed simultaneously, and you gain one point for each player who voted the same way you did. These points track the maiden’s descent from the tower.

In Cyrano, the goal is to bring the two lovers onto the same floor of the tower before anyone else. If players tie, the winner is decided by a final rhyming duel, making poetic invention and social judgment equally important to victory.